Alex Casey 
Bringing you the highlights of this week’s TV Guide, New Zealand’s top selling magazine and this website’s papery spiritual grandmother. // Just yesterday, frustrated with the sideways scrolling function of the TVNZ guide hurtling me into a thousand tomorrows, I took a walk to the dairy and purchased a crisp copy of the TV Guide. … Read more
This week has truly heralded 2015 as the big big year for online content. Alex Casey breaks down the past week of web TV news. // The Return of Wet Hot American Summer This week Netflix announced an 8-episode follow up to the 2001 film Wet Hot American Summer. Creators David Wain and Michael Showalter … Read more
Alex Casey has never watched a second of Breaking Bad, nor read anything about it. Going in completely blind, she has committed to watching the whole series over summer in the lead up to spin off series Better Call Saul‘s arrival to Lightbox in February. Contains spoilers, obviously. Day Seven, Thursday 25 December (yes, it’s … Read more
Inside the Lightbox is a new sponsored feature where we mine the extensive Lightbox catalogue for cool shows you might like to watch. This week, Alex Casey gets the best medical shows prepped and ready for you on the operating table. // We can all agree that hospitals are the worst places on earth, filled with enormous … Read more
Alex Casey revels in the highs and lows of Daniel Corbett, the endearing One News weatherman and replacement for Jim Hickey in our hearts. // I have always been told to listen to my parents, so when my Dad urgently let me know that the new TV One weatherman looked like “Dynamo in 30 years” I … Read more
With the return of Shortland Street last night, Alex Casey breaks down some of the new summer looks in Ferndale for 2015. // The first episode of Shortland Street for the new year aired last night, and boy did it provide summery excellence. The episode was fizzing with holiday vibes: Garrett ate half a sandwich (probably … Read more
Alex Casey has never watched a second of Breaking Bad, nor read anything about it. Going in completely blind, she has committed to watching the whole series over summer in the lead up to spin off series Better Call Saul‘s arrival to Lightbox in February. Contains spoilers, obviously. Day Three: Thursday 18 December, 7am Watched: … Read more
Alex Casey has never watched a second of Breaking Bad, nor read anything about it. Going in completely blind, she has committed to watching the whole series over summer in the lead up to spin off series Better Call Saul‘s arrival to Lightbox in February. Contains spoilers, obviously.// Day One: Tuesday, 11.30pm Watched: Episodes 1-3 … Read more
Alex Casey argues why The Office Christmas special is the gift that keeps on giving this holiday season. // Check the TV guide this time of year and you’ll see the likes of Mrs Brown’s Boys Christmas and something terrible called Gangsta Granny. So often Christmas specials turn out to be the TV equivalent of a Kmart Christmas … Read more
Alex Casey personally responds to some of the weirder Google searches that have led internet-dwellers to The Spinoff this year. // We have been watching you, readers. We have been watching what you are Googling, and why you are Googling it, and when you are Googling it. First of all, here are the top shows/people that … Read more
With a little help from Twitter, we assembled the best, worst and weirdest TV moments to grace New Zealand screens this year. Please enjoy the confusion, outrage and hilarity that has been NZ TV in 2014. // Puffed Up Little Shit Pam Corkery thought she was simply throwing it down to Brook Sabin outside the Internet Mana Party … Read more
Alex Casey lists the finest vine moments The Spinoff was able to capture this year (we’ve only been around since September, so excuse the recency bias). // I spent a day in the The Spinoff’s Vine archives with a monocle and an ear trumpet reviewing our wealth of six second masterpieces. These are my favourite ones, apologies … Read more
Back in the kindergarten days of The Spinoff, Alex Casey recapped the entire series of My Kitchen Rules New Zealand. In this week of 2014 highlights, she sees her journey through with a bizarre IRL visit to The Corporate Dads’ Charity Dinner Party. /// I met the “Corporate Dads” Josh and Aaron at the TVNZ 2015 launch. They … Read more
Alex Casey wrestles with the anaconda that has been 2014’s stunt television disasters. // It’s been a hell of a year for television moments. Lest we forget, it was only early this year that Travolta said “Adele Dazeem” and sent me into a laugh coma that I am yet to rise from. Since then, we … Read more
Alex Casey breaks down the “best of the rest” Shortland Street content that has been unearthed at Spinoff HQ during Street Week. // We have come to the end of the week, and some people could accuse us of scraping the barrel with this funny vid compilation. On the contrary, during our time mining the … Read more
Alex Casey crunches the numbers and breaks down some serious, 100% accurate Shortland Street statistics. // Welcome, you lucky few who exist within the middle of the ‘Statistics fan’ and ‘Shortland Street fan’ venn diagram. I took a look through the Shortland Street census (doesn’t exist), pulled out my abacus (untrue) and scribbled lengthy algorithms on a blackboard … Read more
Much like Ponsonby Road on a sunny day, Shortland Street is heaving with celebrities. Alex Casey looks back at some of the more memorable cameos. // Guardian of Our Small Claims Galaxy Kevin Milne Talk about the merging of two iconic New Zealand television worlds! In 1996, Nick Harrison appeared on Fair Go with legendary host … Read more
With Street Week in full swing and Christmas right around the corner, Alex Casey dredges up the very best in Shortland Street merch from the far reaches of Trademe. // Lionel’s Muffin Cook Book Lionel Skeggins was one of Shortland Street’s all-time greats. The cheery café manager played by John Leigh first appeared in a … Read more
Alex Casey took a surreal trip out to the Shortland Street set, and found scoops around every corner.// When I arrived at South Pacific Pictures, I was greeted in the carpark by a giant tripod with a long brown wig balanced on the top – a sort of terrifying tribal challenge to all layman who … Read more
Please enjoy this week’s episode of Shorty Street Scandal, wherein James Mustapic recaps the past week of Ferndale hijinks. This week? Murray goes underpants crazy, Leanne pulls a fast one out of her own handbag and Chris Warner congratulates himself (once again) for being the underwhelming parent of the year: Old scuzzbucket Murray gathered the family … Read more
Yesterday morning TV3 called for public tip-offs as to who should be New Zealand’s first ever right honourable Bachelor. They are encouraging the public to nominate “a friend, brother, cousin, colleague or son” that is looking for love. If you have anyone in mind, send their names into tipoff@thebachelor.co.nz. But also maybe check with your son first. I sat … Read more
Walking (Dead) Off a Cliff The NZ Herald announced this morning that Cliff Curtis has been cast in the lead role of The Walking Dead’s new unnamed spin-off series. The show will be set vaguely within The Walking Dead universe, but will follow another group of survivors in a different location and time. Cliff will … Read more
This Throwback Thursday, Alex Casey revisits a Dawson’s Creek spin-off that handily doubles as the longest Coca-Cola advertisement ever made. // As the year slowly starts to wrap up and people lock in their summer holidays, spare a thought for the ill-advised Dawson’s Creek spinoff created for the show’s summer break in 2000. Young Americans features the … Read more
Lightbox is already over-stuffed with great shows, but they’re adding more every month. So from now on each month we’ll bring you an annotated guide to the latest arrivals to Lightbox. First up – a combo of the best new shows from November and those arriving this December.// NOVEMBER’S NEW ARRIVALS Jaquie Brown Diaries (Both … Read more
Alex Casey explains why in Dog the Bounty Hunter, this generation got the Batman it deserved. // Duane Chapman aka Dog the Bounty Hunter first stomped onto screens in 2004 in a reality show called Take This Job. He was quickly picked by A&E and given his own show. The basic premise is that he … Read more
With The X Factor’s filmed auditions in full throttle, Alex Casey revisits her bizarre afternoon at the preliminary auditions many moons ago. // Chomping at the bit to see the next slew of wide-eyed The X Factor hopefuls, I decided to head to the preliminary auditions at AUT. These are the pre-screenings, the first of … Read more
With the huge Breaking Bad spinoff Better Call Saul arriving exclusively to Lightbox in February 2015, Alex Casey looks at the disturbing television timeline of cast member Michael McKean.// Playing Saul Goodman’s brother Chuck in Lightbox’s much-anticipated Better Call Saul is by no means the first big television role for Michael McKean. In fact, one glance through his IMDB profile will reveal his ripe … Read more
Happy 25th Birthday TV3 This week marks the 25th year of TV3, and much like an excited 25 year old having an entire birthday week – they are going on an absolute bender. Check out this celebration page for daily vids featuring bloopers, politics, and international correspondence from the last 25 years. For more from … Read more
With Sci Fi week in full swing and Christmas right around the corner, Alex Casey dredges up some powerful space junk from the dark reaches of the Trademe TV Memorabilia galaxy. // If there is one place to learn about the nuances of a particular show and it’s fandom, I can highly recommend following the Trademe … Read more